Liquid or center-filled gum and other center-filled confectionery products enjoy widespread popular appeal. These products typically exhibit a soft, chewy or pliable outer portion that surrounds a flavored liquid or syrup center portion. The filled candy is often coated with a hard or a soft candy shell.
A problem encountered in the large scale production of such candies is the inability to adequately control and coordinate the flow rate of the center-fill material and/or the confectionery extrudate with the individual piece forming process. Poor control and coordination of these process parameters results in improperly sealed center-fill confectionery pieces. Improperly sealed pieces are particularly troublesome as unsealed confectionery pieces leak a sticky, viscous fluid onto acceptable product pieces and/or production equipment. Thus, leaked fill material deleteriously impacts otherwise acceptable confectionery pieces, contributes to material waste, and causes equipment stoppage. Moreover, conventional center-fill production systems based on single rope extrusions are inherently limited in product output.
A need exists for an apparatus and method for controlling and coordinating the extrusion process and the piece forming process, particularly in large scale production systems for center-filled confectioneries. A need further exists for a production system that overcomes the limitations of single rope extrusion systems.